The Swift Cassette
Taylor Swift’s new album, “Life of a Showgirl”, is available via streaming, vinyl, and (get this) cassette tape.
New music on old-time cassette tape is news to me.
But I’m a clueless gray-hair former tape recording Boomer.
In the 1980s, the cassette tape was the most common way to listen to music.
The cassette had overtaken vinyl LPs in 1983 before being surpassed by the compact disc in 1991.
But wait, I thought the convenience of streaming had swept physical hold-in-your-hand formats into storage. What’s going on?
What?
Pop stars such as Chappell Roan, Sabrina Carpenter, and Taylor Swift are driving a resurgence of cassette tape sales.
In addition, new Walkman-type portable player/recorders from Maxell, Toshiba, and others, as well as Hi-Fi component record/play cassette decks from Teac and Tascam, have also re-entered the audio scene.
So, who’s buying cassette tapes?
Why are they buying cassette tapes?
Will Swifties discover that they can record onto cassette tape from their streaming apps?
If they do, will corporate lawyers seek to incarcerate these potential young copyright infringement bandits?
And I also have to ask.
Will this development lead to the return of mangled tapes?
Who?
Potential Copyright Bandit?
Who’s buying cassettes?
The answer is Swifties and Gen Z music fans.
Why?
Why are they buying cassettes?
They like the tangible experience of holding and owning their music collection.
The modest revival of analog vinyl LPs supports this trend.
As with the vinyl LP, the tangible feel of flipping the cassette tape, viewing the album art, and listening to the entire album instead of skipping tracks is driving a demand for the cassette tape.
And as with smartphone streaming, the ‘Walkman-type’ cassette player provides the freedom of taking music anywhere.
Copyrights?
And what about copyright infringement?
Gen-Z tape recording fans can sleep in peace.
Thanks to the 1984 U.S. Supreme Court ‘Disney vs Sony’ decision, the principle of personal “fair use” allows limited use (recording) of copyrighted works without permission.
So, Gen-Z can record their music onto a cassette from any source, including streaming apps.
In Closing
Holding and owning a copy of your music is a compelling incentive.
Hands-on ownership leads to a ‘tighter’ personal musical experience.
It always has.
And it appears Swifties get it, too.
Mangled Postscript
Here’s a Boomer tip for Gen Z cassette fans.
A mangled cassette tape caught up in a tape player was a common calamity in the 1980s.
Protect your music investment.
Record (download) your music from your streaming service to your laptop or smartphone using the built-in recording app. Then record (copy) your downloaded file to your cassette player/recorder.
Alternatively, record a cassette copy of a purchased original cassette, vinyl LP, or CD album.
In all of the above cases, if your recorded cassette is damaged, you can re-record a new copy.
That’s it
And check out these links:
Intro — How to put 20th-century analog audio to work
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